Past Dates

In the Western world, it is considered a weakness to avoid conflict. Western thinking is oriented towards oppositions, dualities, and it asserts their struggle for dominance. In his 1978 lectures at the Collège de France, French philosopher Roland Barthes pondered a third position: the neutral. He eschews a definition, leaving readers to develop their own desire. Boris Charmatz’ fascination with this figure of thought has led him to adopt it as the basis of this choreography, replacing the neutral with the suspension of conflicts that we are ultimately all longing for. This arrangement of 25 sequences of movement for 24 dancers operates on the musical principle of the canon: A movement begins, a dancer carries it out, another takes it on, yet another brings it to a close. The installation remains open and centres on a final sequence of movement which will always be missing. Because even if all 24 performers have taken over a sequence, one of the 25 movements will remain absent. What is left open here is the undefined neutral which is intended to set in motion our curiosity and our desire. The virtuosity of this equally poetic and political work opens up latitudes far beyond its theoretical background.

Thanks to: Maud Le Pladec, Marlène Monteiro-Freitas, Katja Fleig, Margot Joncheray, Carlos Maria Romero, the students of the Inter-University Center for Dance HZT (Berlin, year 2010), the residents of the Pavillon, laboratoire de création du Palais de Tokyo, and all those who took part in the different stages of research.With a special thought for Vincent Druguet and Odile Duboc.

Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

With support of Institut français as part of the programme IntégraleS and With support of Convention Institut français / City of Rennes / Rennes Métropole.